


escape from the city & follow the sun

by orphan_account



Series: jarry drabbles [3]
Category: Ariana Grande (Musician), Little Mix (Band), One Direction (Band)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, harry & jade don't really talk here but they're still happily together !!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-01
Updated: 2017-04-01
Packaged: 2018-10-13 11:35:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10512951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Now though, sat in Niall and Ariana's Syracuse back yard, watching Rosie chase butterfly's with a plastic bucket and Jade laughing as she records the whole thing on her phone - it's good.





	

New York isn't London or LA. It feels somewhere in between home-and-not; Harry's skin buzzes whenever he's here, tries to digest it all without drowning. He's not a busy-city kind of lad, prefers quiet seclusion. Especially since Rose.

Now though, sat in Niall and Ariana's Syracuse back yard, watching Rosie chase butterfly's with a plastic bucket and Jade laughing as she records the whole thing on her phone - it's good.

Little Caelan watches in wide-eyed wonder from Ariana's lap, sucking on his tiny fist, while his parents quietly bicker over salad and burgers.

(Wrapping his head around the fact that Caelan is now a one year old is almost as difficult as trying to process Rose almost being five. _Five_.)

"Daddy! Find the butterfly's!" Rose suddenly demands, hands smacking his knees. Harry's hands automatically find hers as she clambers onto his lap. She's not little anymore, all knobbly knees and sharp elbows that dig into his skin. Harry will never have the heart to refuse her.

"In a bit, Rosebud," he promises her, chokes on a laugh as she wiggles her fingers inbetween his shirt buttons. "Why don't you go see what Mummy and Uncle Niall are doing?"

Rose gives a lock of his hair one last tug before scampering to the opposite side of the table (he's growing it long again and Jade hasn't stopped teasing him about it.

"You're really going for the baby Tarzan look again?" She'd laughed. "Are we back in 2011?"

"Heeeey," he'd whined. "I didn't look that bad!"

"Of course you didn't, babe.").

Ariana wanders over to him then, Caelan on her hip. Harry opens his arms eagerly; Ariana laughs as they make the transfer. Caelan settles against his chest, grappling at his shirt.

Ariana sighs in relief as she sits next to him. Harry rubs Caelan's back. "You alright?"

Ariana hums. "Yeah. Tired," she yawns. "God, I can't wait for a decent nights sleep."

Harry laughs. "I don't miss the sleepless nights either." He looks over at Jade blowing bubbles for Rosie to run for and Niall cackling. "Miss her being this little, though," he says softly. Ariana gazes fondly over the same way, eyes trained on Niall.

It's quiet for a long moment, Ariana drawing her knees up to her chin. Harry thinks she fallen asleep until she softly says, "How did we get here?"

Harry looks up at her, surprised. "Literally or figuratively? Because me and Jade got a flight -"

"No," Ariana laughs, reaching over to let Caelan grasp her finger. "I mean - you hooked up with a rival girlband member -"

"Okay, we were _not_ rivals -"

"- and now you have a daughter together, I fell in love with your ridiculous blonde, Irish bandmate -"

"This is how you're describing him?" Harry shakes with silent laughter, trying not to jostle Caelan. Ariana swats his arm.

"Shut up, you know what I mean." She sits back. "I just - we wrote so many songs about love, about people we love, but -"

"We didn't think it'd really happen to us," he finishes for her. Ariana just nods.

He sees it, then, the striking difference between the years he's known her. Her faces is rounder, softer, and she'd stopped having her hair done after finding out she was pregnant, so now her natural curls fall in dark locks around her face. There's laughter and frown lines on her face now, and Harry doesn't doubt he has the same.

"Parenthood suits us," he comments. Ariana smiles in fond agreement, extending her arms to take Caelan back. Harry oblidges. A very sleepy Caelan settles with his face in Ariana's neck, and Ariana leans back, seemingly just enjoying the weight of him in her arms. Harry's hands itch for a camera.

"You're on daughter duty," Jade says from where she's suddenly stood next to him, Rosie clinging to her leg. Harry stands up and stretches for both of them.

"Ah, not so fast," Niall calls. "Burgers are going on now. Babe?"

"Salad, got it," Ariana get up, cradling Caelan to her chest. Niall's with in her a second, taking him while Ariana goes inside. Rose detaches herself from Jade to run after her.

"Alright, lad," Niall coos as Caelan rubs his face against Niall's shoulder in confusion. "S'alright, we'll get you fed now."

Jade drapes herself across Harry's lap dramatically, and he feigns suffocating until she kisses him quiet.

Pulling back, he slips a hand under her t-shirt and gently presses it to her stomach. "Did you tell...?" He trails off, noses at her cheek.

"No," she says quietly, smile on her lips. "It's Caelan's day - tell them later, yeah?"

Harry nods, leaves his hand on her stomach for a few seconds longer, wonders if the kidney-bean sized not-quite-a-baby can feel the warmth of his palm.

\--

After burgers and salad and birthday cake - with Caelan getting more cake around his face than in his mouth - it's Niall he ends the day with. It's dark, and Niall has an icepack on his bad knee because Rose had tackled him when they were playing tag and landed on it. Rose wasn't hurt, but the panic Harry had felt in that moment brought back every bad memory of having to help Niall limp off stage, getting his leg into a brace when it got really bad on tour. He hasn't missed that panic - yet he feels it every single time Rosie's bottom lip quivers and her eyes fill up with tears. Sometimes he wants to fit Rose in the hollow place between his ribs where he knows she’ll be safe and loved; he wants Jade there, too.

In the early days, though, of the band and the whirlwind that followed, it had been Niall.

"Would you do another?" Niall yawns.

"Another...?"

"Band album," Niall takes a swig of beer. "Band tour."

"Ah," something uncomfortable shifts in his stomach. "I - haven't even thought it about it since -"

"Solo material and kids?" Niall offers. Harry laughs little, nods. "I know, mate. Me too. How long has it been now?"

"Seven years," Harry mutters. The words taste strange on his tongue, even if they'd all settled on the idea of the band breaking up a long time ago.

Niall swears under his breath, takes another swig of beer and stares out at the dark yard. Distantly, they hear Ariana singing to herself in the kitchen and Rose laughing. Niall's face immediately softens.

"Why aren't you married yet?" Harry suddenly asks.

Niall starts. "Wha- H." He laughs. "Could ask you the same thing, mate. You've been with Jade long enough."

"Don't deflect," Harry frowns. Niall snorts.

"I dunno," he confesses. "Doesn't feel...essential, you know? Like, it's good here, _we're_ good. We write and jam and record like we always did before, but - then there's us, on the other side of it, and we're happy. Happier than I thought I'd get." He stops and stares out for a while. "I'd marry her tomorrow, if she brought it up. She knows that."

Harry looks back at the house, sees Jade sleepily plaiting Rose's hair in front of the TV. Thinks of the little one they'll have in a few months, how much it terrifies and exhilarates him.

He glances down at the many rings he's collected over the years, ones that feel more apart of him than his own skin sometimes. Adding another one doesn't seem so bad.

"Yeah," is all he says. "Me too."

**Author's Note:**

> this has turned into A Thing, apparently. there will probably be more to come because I get these plots out of thin air.
> 
> Kudos/comments appreciated!


End file.
